World Championships
The Pokémon World Championships (Japanese: ポケモンワールドチャンピオンシップス Pokémon World Championships) are an annual event staged by the Play! Pokémon organized play division of The Pokémon Company International (formerly known as Pokémon USA). The first ever World Championship event was run by Wizards of the Coast, a division of Hasbro, on August 2002 in Seattle, WAFirst-Ever Pokemon Trading Card Game World Champion Titles Won by Dylan Austin, 14 of Ann Arbor, Michigan and Mindy Lambkee, 10 of Kent, Washington. Due to the transfer of the licensing of the Trading Card Game from Wizards to Nintendo, neither company staged a World Championship in 2003. Nintendo resumed World Championships in 2004, and have held them each year ever since. Prior to the start of the World Championships structure, the best players from around the world competed at the Tropical Mega Battle between 1999 and 2001, as well as at several Super Trainer Showdown events held in the US in 2000 and 2001. An annual invitational-only event held in August of a given year, players are chosen on overall ratings, national champions and past performances in the previous year's World Championships. Events Trading Card Game The championships are staged utilizing that year's , previously referred to as Modified Format prior to the . The introduced the . Set over three days with a last chance qualifier (known to players as "The Grinder") on the Friday to fill seats left vacant for various reasons (no travel, local qualifiers) until all seats are filled. The second day is limited to Swiss Pairings over a set number of rounds, and the top players (16 each in the Junior and Senior Divisions, as well as the top 32 in the Masters division) move onto the Sunday rounds. The format for this final is single elimination, until the finals, which are a best two matches out of three to decide the World Champion. There are three divisions: Junior (known as the 10 Years Old and Under Division until 2006), Senior (known as the 11 to 14 Year Old Division until 2006) and Masters (called the 15 Years and Older Division until 2006). Standard/Modified Format Sets * 2004 — to * 2005 — to * 2006 — to * 2007 — to * 2008 — to * 2009 — to * 2010 — to * 2011 — to * 2012 — to * 2013 — to * 2014 — to * 2015 — onward * 2016 — to * 2017 — onwards * 2018 — onward * 2019 — to * 2020 — onward Expanded Format Sets * 2015 — onward World Championship decks World Championship decks are purchasable non-tournament-legal prints of 60-card decks used by World Championship players. Video games The format for the Video Game Championships (VGC), first staged in 2009 in is virtually the same as the TCG counterparts in which winners of those in the National tournament play. In 2010, a Last Chance Qualifier was held on Friday to fill all vacant spots. In 2011, a Masters age Division was added to parallel the TCG. The most recently released Pokémon game is used for battles. The in-battle rules and banned Pokémon vary from year to year. Usually, the battles are double battles, and each player can use four Pokémon. The event format consists of Swiss rounds, followed by a single elimination tournament. In 2009, the top two advanced to play the finals on Sunday, whereas since 2010, the top eight advance to play in a head-to-head single elimination event to decide the World Champions. Games used * 2009 — * 2010 — * 2011 — * 2012 — * 2013 — * 2014 — * 2015 — * 2016 — * 2017 — * 2018 — * 2019 — * 2020 — Pokkén Tournament Games used *2015 - Pokkén Tournament (arcade version, invitational only) *2016 - Pokkén Tournament *2017 - Pokkén Tournament *2018 - Pokkén Tournament DX *2019 - Pokkén Tournament DX Pokémon GO *2019 (invitational only) In the games In , the top four competitors from each division of the Video Game Championships from the 2012 World Championships were featured in the World Championships Tournaments in the Pokémon World Tournament. In the Generation VI games, exists for the top three competitors as opponents in the Battle Maison. In , several NPCs at the Battle Resort mention the Pokémon World Championships. In the anime The Pokémon World Championships will appear in SS012. In other languages |bordercolor= |zh_yue=寶可夢世界錦標賽 |zh_cmn=寶可夢世界錦標賽 / 宝可梦世界锦标赛 |nl=Pokémon Wereldkampioenschap |fr=Championnats du Monde Pokémon |de=Pokémon-Weltmeisterschaften |it=Campionati Mondiali Pokémon |ko=포켓몬 월드챔피언십 Pokémon World Championships |pl=Mistrzostwo Świata Pokémon |pt=Campeonato Mundial de Pokémon |ru=Чемпионат Мира по игре в Покемон Chempionat Mira po igre v Pokémon |es=Campeonato Mundial Pokémon }} See also * Play! Pokémon * * Championship Point References External links * Official website Category:Play! Pokémon * * Category:Video game tournaments Category:TCG tournaments de:Pokémon-Weltmeisterschaften es:Campeonato mundial de videojuegos Pokémon fr:Championnats du monde it:Campionati Mondiali ja:ポケモンワールドチャンピオンシップス zh:寶可夢世錦賽